Tether restraining systems, where a tether, such as, but not limited to a rope, chain, wire, leash, etc., is secured to the ground, are useful in a wide variety of applications. For example, tents often require a guy wire for support, or in some cases, to prevent the tent from being blown away by wind in the case of light weight tents. Temporary communications stations often include temporary antenna masts that require support by guy wires that are attached to stakes in the ground surrounding the mast. Another common application of tether restraining systems are animal detainment systems.
Portable animal detainment systems are useful for restraining animals when and where the use of a fence or other non-portable restraint system is not practical or convenient. Portable restraint systems allow animal owners to bring their pets to places without having to worry about the safety or legal issues associated with allowing an animal to run loose. Many places have leash laws or equivalents to leash laws that require animals to be restrained in settings such as public parks and the like. Further, an unrestrained animal may run away, run into traffic, or possibly get hurt or hurt another animal or human being.
Systems of transportable animal restraint currently exist, but they have shortcomings. Existing systems include retractable leashes, large spiral leash-tether anchors, stakes, and stake and chain systems.
Retractable leashes are useful in that they can help minimize leash tangles by reducing the leash slack. Such leashes are inconvenient in that they still require a person to continuously hold the leash and to adjust the leash length if necessary. Because of the lack of a safe, easy and portable anchoring system it is impossible for someone to set an animal in the shade or away from major activity (such as a soccer game, picnic event, or campfire) without the person also being away from the activity. Also, when someone needs to hold the leash in order to restrain the animal, the animal will tend to get entangled around the person's legs or other objects nearby (such as chairs or trees). One existing retractable leash is designed to connect to a carabiner type clip (D-shaped with a spring catch on one side) on a single stake in the ground. Another retractable leash system is designed to connect to a fixed point on a single stake.
Another example of an animal restraint is a large spiral leash-tether anchor. In this type of restraint system, the animal owner has to attach and detach the leash to the leash-tether anchor, so the probability of loss of control of the animal during the fastening process is great. These devices are also cumbersome and possibly dangerous to use. In order to secure such a system to the ground (by twisting the bottom side in a corkscrew motion) a great deal of force is necessary and may require the use of tools such as a length of pipe for leverage. Precautions must be taken during transport of this device due to fact that the pointed side (that fastens to the ground) is exposed until it is attached to the ground. The same pointed side becomes dirty after use, yet remains exposed during transport without an additional cover being placed onto the device.
Simple ground stakes are sometimes used to secure a leash to the ground. Due to the exposed point (on the side that is secured to the ground), it is not safe or practical for the leash to be attached until the state is secured in the ground. This means that the probability of loss of control during attachment of the leash to the stake is higher than if the unit was safely portable while attached to the leash. Simple stakes are also cumbersome despite their slim size because of the tools necessary for fastening them to the ground. This type of device retains dirt on the pointed edge if the owner does not also bring a cover. The exposed sharp edge is also unsafe without a cover during transport.
Systems that use a stake (attached to the ground) and a chain (attached to the stake) have the same shortcomings as the stake system.
These existing systems fail to combine the benefits of portability, safety, and cleanliness in a single system.
Leashes can easily get tangled with people's legs or they can get pulled out of the user's hands, thereby freeing the animal to run away which creates dangers to the animal and potentially others in the vicinity. The existing practice of just holding onto a leash or trying to tie it to some stationary object is not safe, convenient, or stable. Sometimes, dogs are tied to strollers, chairs or bikes at athletic events or picnics. This common practice causes bikes to fall, strollers to overturn, chairs to tip, leashes to become entangled around objects possibly injuring people or the animal, and an assortment of other problems.